This isn’t just an act of kindness – it’s more a matter of survival, with painfully thin North Koreans easily spotted by China’s surveillance network.

Christian smugglers are often faced with refugees who find China’s landscape overwhelmingly modern.–

One defector told PRI that he never eaten pork until he arrived at a Chinese safe house, recalling how his protectors also fed him cake on his birthday.

Cake is not common to North Koreans, with the defector describing the treat as “an oddity, somewhat repellant”.

Once they look healthier, the refugees must evade the eyes of Chinese officials, as they continue their journey down to the border of Laos using public trains and buses.

Then begins days of trekking, riverboats or even more buses, as defectors push through Laos to reach the Mekong River – and the Thailand border where they are able to find a police officer and request to be arrested.

The arrest will result in South Korea negotiating their release before flying them to Seoul.

There the North Korean defector will be debriefed, interrogated and finally released into South Korean society.

Despite the vast distance from North Korea, Thailand is in fact one of the closest reachable nations where North Koreans can expect government help to reach South Korea – the hermit nation’s estranged sibling.

The ‘North Korea-to-Thailand’ route has seen a surge in new travellers, according to data seen by Reuters.

The news agency reports that 385 North Koreans were processed as unauthorised entrants in Thailand in the first six months of 2017.

If the influx continues, Thailand can expect to see almost 800 North Korean entrants by the end of the year.–

GETTY – North Korean defectors aim to be deported from Thailand to South Korea

An immigration official who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity said: “An average of 20 to 30 North Koreans arrive each week now in northern Thailand alone.”

For comparison, around 500 North Korean defectors entered Thailand last year.

The South’s Unification Ministry said 593 North Korean defectors had come to the South in the first six months of 2017.

Officially, Thailand treats North Koreans who enter the country as illegal migrants rather than refugees.–

GETTY – Life in the secretive nation of North Korea is strictly controlled

Thailand has not signed the 1951 Geneva Convention on Refugees and has no specific law on refugees.

Unofficially, arrangements are often made between Thai authorities, the South Korean government, and defectors on the ground.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees rarely processes North Korean defectors in Thailand because of the arrangement between Thailand and South Korea.

There’s an arrangement between the Thai government and the South Korean government where they’ll be handed over to South Korea. South Korea regards them simply as Koreans and will take them in. The fleeing North Koreans are aware of the arrangement. It’s easier for them to do it this way.

you what them to trying fleeing over the best protected piece of land in the world !!! they likely to get shot, or step on a mine, or bleed to death on razor wire, or get killed by the guard dogs or any number of other ways specifically designed to keep north korean’s from fleeing to south korea.

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